Icelandic company Eskja has bought purser/trawler Libas from Norwegian operator Lie Management, based near Bergen.
Built in 2004 at Fitjar Mek Verksted, at 94 metres Libas is the largest pelagic vessel in the Norwegian fleet. It was designed by Vik & Sandvik and incorporates a covered stacking system for its purse seine that was highly innovative at the time.
The acquisition marks a change of direction for Eskja, which is currently building a new pelagic processing factory in Eskifjörður in eastern Iceland. The company’s present pelagic processor vessel Aðalsteinn Jónsson (ex-M Ytterstad) is in the process of being sold and the company is moving entirely away from freezing at sea to processing ashore.
Libas will be delivered to its Icelandic owners on the first of November in time for the herring fishery and in time for it to supply the first landings to Eskja’s new factory which is scheduled to be ready for production at the same time.
